Foreign Minister Penny Wong delivered a forthright message to her Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, at the Australia-China Foreign and Strategic Dialogue in Canberra on Wednesday.
“I told the foreign minister Australians were shocked at the sentence imposed on Dr Yang Hengjun,” she said at a news conference following their meeting. “And I made it clear to him the Australian government will continue to advocate on Dr Yang’s behalf.”
Yang, an Australian citizen, was given a death penalty sentence on espionage charges earlier this year, although it is set to be commuted after two years of good behaviour.
The media did not hear Wang’s version of the conversation because the Chinese foreign minister had previously indicated he would not front the news conference. Normally with senior visiting figures, there is a joint press conference after the talks.
Unusually, given Wang’s absence, media arrangements were the same as if he had been there. Australian and Chinese journalists were allocated three questions a side. Wang did not hold a separate news conference.
Read more: Does Yang Hengjun have any legal hopes left after receiving a suspended death sentence in China?
The visit of Wang, who met Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday afternoon, comes as Australia is hoping for an early end to the remaining trade sanctions China imposed when it put the former Coalition government in the freezer.
China’s final decision on lifting its tariffs on wine is due by March 31. In an interim determination last week, the Chinese said the tariffs were no longer necessary.
Australia is still waiting for progress on the restrictions on lobsters and some beef abattoirs.
Meanwhile, Australia has dropped anti-dumping action against Chinese wind towers, an action the Chinese saw as a good gesture.
Wong in the meeting welcomed the progress on removing trade impediments and “reiterated our desire for the removal of remaining impediments on beef and lobster.” The two foreign ministers also discussed the volatility of the nickel market.
“I made the point that predictability in business and trade is in all our economic interests,” Wong said.
Wong did not shy away from a range of sensitive subjects, raising Australian concerns about human rights in Tibet and Hong Kong and expressing “our serious concern about unsafe conduct at sea, our desire for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in our region”.
Wong said the dialogue enabled the two countries to manage their differences.
“It doesn’t eliminate them, but this government in the interests of Australia will always seek to manage those differences wisely.
"As I said at the outset of my meeting, China will always be China, Australia will always be Australia.”
On Thursday, Wang will meet former Prime Minister Paul Keating, who has previously been critical of Wong and the Albanese government regarding the threat China poses and the government’s support for AUKUS. Ahead of this meeting, Keating said in a written statement earlier this week: “I have supported Foreign Minister Penny Wong in her attempts to lower the loud hailer and ‘stabilise’ relations with China”.
Wong said her meeting with Wang was the latest in the process of achieving a “stable relationship” between the two countries.
The foreign and strategic dialogue only recommenced under the Labor government, after the hiatus in the bilateral relationship in the latter days of the Coalition government.
Wong said arrangements were “on track” for a visit later this year by Chinese Premier Li Qiang.
Responding to a question, Wong also pushed back against former US President Donald Trump’s attack on Australia’s ambassador to the United States, Kevin Rudd.
Trump lashed out at Rudd – who some years ago was highly critical of Trump – in an interview with right-wing political figure and broadcaster Nigel Farage.
Farage told Trump that Rudd had said horrible things about him.
Trump replied: “I heard he was a little bit nasty. I hear he’s not the brightest bulb. But I don’t know much about him. But if, if he’s at all hostile, he will not be there long.”
Asked if Rudd would be kept in Washington if Trump became president again, Wong said: “The answer is yes”.
She said Rudd was a “very effective ambassador […] doing an excellent job advancing Australia’s interests in the United States”.
“Even Mr Dutton has expressed confidence in Mr Rudd,” she said. Rudd would be able to work closely with whoever won the presidential election, she added.